


With Our Arms Unbound

by hydraxx, showmethelions (sightandsound3733)



Series: This is Why We Fight [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Background Character Death, Background Relationships, Gen, Original Character Death(s), Rebel Leader Matt Holt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-19
Updated: 2017-07-19
Packaged: 2018-12-04 00:11:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11543358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hydraxx/pseuds/hydraxx, https://archiveofourown.org/users/sightandsound3733/pseuds/showmethelions
Summary: The story of the Intergalactic Coalition.





	With Our Arms Unbound

**Author's Note:**

> This is part of a series! We recommend that you read the first part, Come Hell, before reading any further. Trust us, it'll help. 
> 
> Enjoy!

What do you want to hear tonight, little one?

_Tell me about the Coalition!_

That’s a lot for a bedtime story.

_Papa! Tell me about the First Commanders._

What about them?

_Where did they come from?_

They came from far away, from their own planets and their own systems. There was Akello, a skilled fighter—she led a rebellion against the Empire.

_And that’s how the Coalition started?_

Oh no. Her first rebellion failed, and the Empire took her away and put her in prison, to punish her.

_Then what?_

Patience. In the prison she met Valdis—

_And they started the Coalition!_

I thought you wanted a story.

_Sorry, Papa._

In the prison Akello met Valdis. He was not a fighter, far from it. He was a merchant from a trading colony. Valdis was meek and mild, yet he had stood his ground when they tried to make him aid and serve the Empire. He refused and they locked him away, thinking he would be no trouble in prison.

_But he was!_

Min.

_Sorry._

They paired him in a cell with Akello because they thought he was so little of a threat. They thought Akello would scare him, or that she would hurt him. Akello was very angry. She wanted to fight the Empire, and she wanted to hurt those who had hurt her and her people. Valdis was so much weaker than she was, much calmer, and the Empire guards thought that he might temper her anger, or that she might take her anger out on him. I do not know if they honestly cared.  
  
_But she didn’t hurt him… right?_  
  
Not at all. Akello was angry at the Empire, and that was who she wanted to hurt. Valdis was angry too, he was just better at hiding it. Valdis was very smart, and he knew that lashing out with anger would do nothing while they were prisoners, nothing but amuse their captors. He was able to calm Akello, and to keep her calm. They became friends.

_When did they start the Coalition?_

Akello and Valdis were imprisoned together for a very long time. They knew each other very well, and each knew how angry the other was. But they could do nothing alone. They became friends with some other prisoners as well—do you know who?

_The… the Pillars?_

Yes, that’s right. Two of our own Pillars, Commander Leilani and Commander Kartok. They were younger than Akello and Valdis, but had been in prison for just as long, if not longer. They were angry too, because the Empire had taken away their homes and families, but mostly they were scared.

_That’s silly, Papa, the Pillars are never scared!_

They were not the Pillars yet, little one. Just Leilani and Kartok, and yes, they were both very scared. Leilani is a gifted healer, and the Empire took advantage of that. They were made to work for the Empire, and forced to heal far past what was safe for Leilani’s own health and well being. And Kartok, well he’s very strong, and he worked long, hard hours with other prisoners like him. It was dangerous work, and prisoners were often injured or killed during it. But the Empire did not care.  
  
_That’s awful!_  
  
Yes. It is. But there was little they could do about it. They were prisoners. Slaves. And they answered to the Empire. The prison was full of others like them, beings who were sad and angry, but too scared to even think of doing anything about it.  
  
_What happened, Papa? What did they do?_

They didn’t do anything for a very long time. There wasn’t much they _could_ do. Kartok and Leilani were cell mates, and both were so afraid for the other. They have always been so close, a bonded pair. It wasn’t until they met Akello and Valdis that things started to change.

_How? When? What did they—_

Settle down, and I will tell you. Akello had wanted for a very long time to escape. But when she became friends with Valdis and Leilani and Kartok she decided she should free everyone else in the prison, too, and maybe once they were all free they could help more people in other places.

 

* * *

 

“Akello,” Valdis sighs, watching her pace the short length of their cell. “You must be calm.”

“How am I to be calm?” she snaps, eyes narrowing at him with no heat behind the glare. “Every passing day that we do nothing is another one where they laugh at me and they hurt you and so many others, all without any retribution!” 

“You do this every night,” Valdis says calmly. “I know you are upset, and frustrated. But letting anger brew and overcome your senses will only cloud your mind and make things harder. We need to be rational. We need to—”

“Fuck being rational! We need to _act!”_

“What do you expect us to do? We have no solid plan yet, and we have only a handful of prisoners on our side so far.”  
  
She scoffs. “As if it would be difficult to turn slaves against their captors.”

“Yes, it could be. It _is_. They are rightfully afraid of the Galra.” Valdis tries to cross the cell, reaching for her, but she shakes off his touch. “They fear what may happen to them if this fails.”

“It will not fail. It cannot, not with you planning.”

He returns to his own cot and avoids her gaze. “It could. I am not infallible.” His shoulders slump forward as he sits, hanging heavy with the gravity of their situation. “If we fail, we die.”  
  
“We will not—”  
  
“They didn’t kill you last time, but if this fails, they will.” There’s a bite to his words that stalls Akello in her restless pacing. Valdis lifts his head to look at her. “They will kill us all. You, me, Leilani and Kartok, and any other who throws their lot in with us. We must take care. And…” He falters for a moment, his jaw twitching tensely. “And I will not have it, Akello. Living in chains is no life at all, but I will not have you die.”

“I do not fear death,” she says, voice tight.

“I know you don’t.” Valdis shakes his head, looking down at his lap for a moment. “And that is what _I_ fear. It makes you reckless, and all too eager for a fight.”

“Val—”

“Please, stop,” he sighs. “Just… come. Come here, please?” He shifts to one side of his cot, leaving the other open if she wants to claim it. “We are making our plans, but they move slowly. We all need patience.”

Akello’s sigh drips with annoyance, but she takes the offered seat, leaning against the wall behind. There’s a long stretch of silence before she speaks again. “Leilani comes back more tired every time they are taken off planet,” she mutters, closing her eyes. “And the guards are only getting more sadistic and cruel as the days go by.”

“I know,” Valdis murmurs. “But Leilani of all would preach patience.”  

Akello scoffs. “How they can say that when they feel all the pain…”

“There is pain everywhere, Akello. I doubt they have ever been without it.”

“Everywhere…” She lets silence trail between them before murmuring, “We have to go everywhere, Val. Once we are done here we have to take this as far as it’ll go—or whoever comes after us will.”

Valdis chuckles. “Getting ahead of ourselves, aren’t we?”

“I am not allowed to think of the future of this thing?”

“No, of course you are.” Valdis offers her his hand to take, loosely tangling their fingers in a friendly gesture they’ve enjoyed for so many years. “If we have the right people—if we keep Leilani and Kartok—I think it will go far.”

“What should we call it?”

Valdis hums, mulling it over. “Something grand. Aspirational.”

“We are neither of those,” she points out, but her grin is teasing.

He smirks back at her. “Am I not allowed to think of the future of this thing?”

“Fine, fine,” Akello laughs. “What name then?”

“It should be something to inspire hope.” Valdis tightens his grip on her hand. “Something that speaks of unity and a brighter future for all.” He goes quiet for a moment before smiling. “What about… the Intergalactic Coalition? We will fight for more than this system and this galaxy. We will fight the Galra and the Empire to every extent of their reach, and we will do it together, along with whoever else may wish to fight.”

She grins at him. “I like it. Grand, hopeful… I like it. The Intergalactic Coalition.”

 

* * *

 

 _Did they do it, Papa?_  

We are here and free, are we not? They made a plan, slow and careful, because Valdis wanted to be sure that everything was just right. It took a very long time before they were ready. But when they were… oh, the Empire didn’t stand a chance. Valdis was right when he said to wait. Waiting allowed them to gather support, to get nearly all of the prisoners ready and on their side. It allowed them to drive out the Empire and to reclaim the prison and the planet for themselves.

 _They won!_  
  
Yes, little one, they did. Akello and Valdis took back the planet, with Leilani and Kartok at their side and all members of the new and budding Coalition eager and ready to thrive in their freedom. They all worked together to build a new life, a new society in place of the prison. They renamed the planet Shi’or, the word for rebirth in Valdis’ mother tongue, and everyone was able to start moving forward.

With Shi’or healing, Akello and Valdis knew it was time to think outside of just their planet, to bring the Coalition to the rest of the star system and beyond. And time for them to heal as well.

 

* * *

 

“Kartok!”

“Yes, my heart?” He glances up from reading a logistical report to find Leilani half-collapsed against the doorframe with laughter, filling the room with the sweetest bell-like sound. “What is going on?” 

“You will not believe what I have just seen.”

Kartok smiles in amusement at their glee and sets aside the reading. “I can see you want to convince me. Stop standing in the door, come in.”

Leilani’s walk is graceful, even as laughter still shakes their willowy frame. They join him at the table, reaching to take his hands in all four of their own. “I ran into Akello as I was coming back from the infirmary.

“It is not so uncommon for her to wake and train at this time.” Kartok cocks his head to the side, mindful of his antlers as Leilani leans close with a playful, sparkling grin.  
  
“She was coming from Valdis’ room!” 

He frowns slightly but refuses to give in to outright shock just yet. “So? Perhaps they were meeting early, or stayed up late—”

“Kartok!” Leilani’s exasperation is always threaded with light and happiness. “If it was only a meeting, she would not have blushed so when I said hello, or run away to her own room without so much as a single word!” 

“Are you saying…”

Leilani giggles delightedly. “Yes! Listen to your empath, dear heart, I am not wrong about these things.”

It’s impossible not to smile with them when happiness is washing through the room, a feeling still newly accessible to them both.  
  
“Well… Good,” Kartok chuckles, lifting his hands so he can brush sweet kisses to Leilani’s knuckles. “They are happy, yes?”  
  
“Incredibly so.” Leilani absolutely beams. “Everything is happening so fast with us leaving Shi’or and expanding the Coalition—they are overwhelmed, as we all are, but I’ve never felt them both so happy, so at peace! It’s almost… intoxicating to be around.”

Kartok smiles and tugs them close, dropping their hands to wrap them in a hug instead. He doesn’t even care about the odd disparity between his seated height and them standing. “I think we are all feeling a little drunk,” he murmurs. “Already taking our fight to new places and new peoples after hardly a year out of the prison… Nothing I could have dreamed when we were imprisoned.”

“Of course you dreamed.” Leilani lays two of their hands on Kartok’s cheeks, the other two looping around his neck. “We all did, or we would never have gotten this far.”

He grins at them. “We certainly never dreamed Akello and Valdis would be together like this.”

Leilani tilts their head back in a laugh. “No, that we _never_ did!”

 

* * *

 

_What does that mean?_

It means that the First Commanders were more than just friends and partners in revolution. Akello and Valdis were mated and in love. You have heard the songs of the Commanders, heard how fiercely they loved each other. Akello was unfamiliar with this type of bond, her people did not often engage in such things, but Valdis… oh, he loved her so wholly. They devoted their lives to the Coalition, but their hearts were only for one another. 

_Oh…_

You don’t sound so impressed. That’s alright. You may understand better someday. 

_...So they got on the ship?_

One of the Empire’s abandoned ships, yes, and they traveled to the nearest planet still clasped within the Empire’s grasp, and then the next and the next, until the whole star system was free.

_Then what?_

Shi’or was made the ground base, a place for soldiers to train and to stay when they are not called into duty. A council was appointed to oversee things and to help advise the Commanders in all matters. But the Commanders themselves kept traveling and making allies everywhere they went. Thousands of people they freed, hundreds of planets.

_Are they all in the Coalition?_

Not all of them, no. Do you know how it works?

_A little._

Sometimes the Coalition goes and helps fight the Empire to free the planet, and other times they might already be free, or they were never under Empire rule to begin with. No matter what the circumstance, the Coalition will always ask if they’d like to join.

_But not all of them say yes?_

No. Some want to be on their own, because if they are in the Coalition they must help others who are in trouble. Some don’t want to be bothered to help.

_That’s not right! They should help them._

It’s more complicated than that, little one. Often they have lost many of their people to the fight already and need to care for themselves first—we cannot blame them for this.

_I would join._

I know you would, but you are not leading a planet now, are you?

_Maybe I will! And then I’ll join._

Of course you will. But you know there are some who join our forces on their own… like me, and like your mother.  
  
_Did you ever meet the First Commanders, Papa?_  
  
I met Valdis, once, right after I joined.  
  
_What about Commander Akello?_  
  
I never got the chance.

 _Why not?_  
  
...Our story does continue. But it is not a happy one.  
  
The Commanders and their seconds, our Leilani and Kartok, left Shi’or with a small and dedicated fighting force. They were incredibly successful in all their efforts, and the Coalition thrived. Akello and Valdis led with passion and pride and they worked so hard to build something steady and good. They got into prisons on other planets and did what they did on Shi’or, helped the people there and helped them start their new lives. It was glorious. And very dangerous.  


 

* * *

 

Leilani hovers fretfully on the command deck, itching to get back to their infirmary, but terrified of leaving while their commanders and Kartok are all on the ground. “Is there nothing new from Akello?” 

“No, they are all in heavy fighting. I’m sure she’ll call in when there’s a break.” The tech offers a small, sympathetic smile. It’s weakened by how Leilani can feel their nerves singing uneasily through the air.  
  
“It has been too long without a check in,” Leilani mutters, wringing their hands together. They hate nothing more than being the one left behind during these awful raids, but what use would they be in the field? They are not a fighter, and they would be too easily overwhelmed by all the pain and confusion and the adrenaline-drunk emotions.  
  
A crackle of static cuts through the comms and sets them both on high alert. The tech opens the receiver on their end to say, “Commander Akello?”  
  
“Is Leilani on deck?” Akello’s voice comes sharp over the line. “Where is my second?!”  
  
“I am here, Commander,” Leilani strides forward, two arms wrapped tight around their chest. “What is happening, what do you need?”  
  
“We’ve been ambushed, we’re losing people fast.” Her breathing is labored, and they all can hear the chaos thriving on her end. Something sour starts to form within Leilani’s heart. “I’ve been separated from what’s left of my force, and I cannot get to the rendezvous point.”

“What? What do we—”

“Leilani.”

They hate the sound of terror in their voice as they say, “Yes, Commander?”

 “Be easy.” They can almost hear the smile in her voice. “I need you to be calm, be the level head I have always relied on.”  
  
“Commander?”  
  
“You must be steady if you are to lead.” Akello isn’t running anymore, Leilani can hear her sword slipping free of its sheath. “You will be far better at it than I.”  
  
“Akello!” Leilani stumbles forward, breath seizing tight in their chest. “What are you doing?!”  
  
“The Coalition is in your hands, my friend.” Akello’s grinning, they know she is. “And this is goodbye.”

The line goes dead.

Leilani presses their hands to their mouth in horror as Akello’s connection disappears entirely and the whole command deck descends into solemn, stricken silence.

“No, no—Akello!” They throw themself toward the switchboard, desperate to reconnect to her, but the tech gently stops their hands. “What are you doing?! Get her back now!”

“There’s no line to reach. She cut it somehow.” The tech’s voice is shaky and Leilani can taste their brimming grief. Akello can’t—she can’t— 

“Commander,” the tech says quietly, looking up at Leilani. “What are your orders?”

 

* * *

 

_She… Akello died?_

Oh, come here, little one, shh. It’s alright. Akello protected the people and the cause she loved, and she made sure that we had a strong commander to follow her. She was not the first nor the only one who has died for our freedom.

_But what did Valdis do? He loved her!_

Oh, yes, he did, he loved her more than anything.

 

* * *

 

 “Kartok!” Valdis strains to be heard clearly over the noise of the fighting. His second’s communicator was badly damaged in the fighting and isn’t accepting signals. Thankfully Kartok hears him, turning sharply after slamming a Galra limp to the ground. “We must retreat! To the rendezvous point, no hesitation now! Kill if you must, but our priority is to get to the pods!”  
  
“Yes sir!” Kartok nods sharply and then he’s turning and working to follow orders. Good boy. Valdis pulls the bladed end of his staff out of a fallen guard and takes off after him, opening up a wider communications signal to connect to the rest of their forces.  
  
“Coalition! Retreat! Drop what you are doing, collect any prisoners you can and meet at your separate points!” He disconnects before any of them have time to speak, just as he receives an incoming ping from Akello’s private line. 

“Valdis.”

“We’re almost done, on our way to the rendezvous now—”

“Valdis.”

 “I hear you, Akello. We’re on our way back to—”

 “Val.” She cuts him off, sounding utterly calm.

 He stops in his tracks at the nickname. Something private, just for them. “Akello? What’s going on?”

 “I don’t have long, the more I talk the more chance Leilani has to get through and talk me out of it.”

 “Out of what?” he asks in a whisper, blood pounding in his veins.

 “Don’t worry about me, Val. You always worry too much. I just—I wanted to say—” She huffs something that almost sounds like a laugh. “Thank you.”

 “Thank—what? Akello, what’s going on?!”

 “You made me soft, Val. You made me realize I still had a heart.”

 “What?”  
  
“Listen to me.” Her voice is quieter now. Valdis can hear the rasp that edges at her breathing. “I do not have much time.”

“Where are you?” Valdis demands, wheeling around in place, as though he could find her among the chaos through sight alone. “Akello, tell me, Kartok and I will be right there!”  
  
“You must get to the ship. Leilani will need you both.” She shifts and it’s then he realizes how quiet things are on her end. Why is it quiet? What has she done? “I love you, you know,” she almost laughs. “In ways I never thought I could."

Kartok is charging toward him, laying out Galra left and right to reach his Commander and get them both to safety. “Akello, please…” 

“Goodbye, my love.”

Her line cuts out, Kartok’s hand curls tight around his wrist, and Valdis’ heart snaps in two. 

 

* * *

 

The Coalition was changed forever. Akello gone, and Leilani stepping into command in her place. It was very different. Akello was a warrior. She was fierce and sharp and she was not forgiving,

_Commander Leilani isn’t like that._

No, not at all, so you see how it had to be different? And more than that, Valdis… well, Valdis had a very hard time. He wanted to work with Leilani but he missed Akello too much. I met him shortly after she was lost. He was very quiet, very withdrawn, and he relied on Kartok and Leilani to keep the balance.  
  
_But what happened to Valdis?_

I told you this story would not be happy, little one.

Valdis… He could not imagine the Coalition without Akello, and then suddenly it was real. Kartok took over more and more of his duties while trying to be his second as well. It made things very difficult, and sometimes they made mistakes. Did you know that Kartok was captured?

_The story started that way, Papa._

I mean that he was captured again, while he was Valdis’ second. A group went down to save him, with Valdis leading them. I was in the group that was to be their backup.

 _…Is that when he got hurt?_  
  
Yes. He was hurt very badly, by the Emperor’s witch. Kartok was caught while trying to infiltrate a prison without Valdis able to cover him as he usually did. The witch wanted information from him, and Kartok was hurt when he would not give it. Commander Leilani was heartbroken with him gone, so worried, and Valdis felt so guilty. He led the group down, got Kartok out and safe… but Valdis himself did not return.

_He—he—did he die?_

...Yes, little one. Yes, he died. And Kartok became the new Commander.

_That’s so… sad._

It was sad to watch. It took a very long time for Kartok to heal, even with Leilani helping him out. But he became a strong Commander, and a good partner with Leilani. The Coalition was very different under them than it had been. It wasn’t bad. Just different.

_What about Commander Zarra?_

I thought you wanted to know about the First Commanders.

_Please, Papa?_

Alright. It was a long while before Commander Zarra joined the Coalition. Leilani and Kartok didn’t fight as much after they lost Akello and Valdis, they found other ways to make allies and spread peace, but sometimes if people were already fighting they would send soldiers to help.

_Like you!_

Yes, like me. Commander Zarra’s planet had been fighting the Empire for a very long time, longer than she had even been alive. The Empire was taking things from her planet, sucking the life from it, and things were getting very bad. Leilani and Kartok didn’t know if the Coalition could help at all.

_But you did, right? You won?_

Not quite. The Coalition sent soldiers to help fight, but there wasn’t much we could do. Leilani and Kartok were impressed with Zarra, and the way she led her people, even in the face of an impossible fight. Eventually Zarra’s people decided it was better to leave and join the Coalition, even though they were very sad to let the Empire take their home. Our Pillars offered Zarra a place with them, to join them as a Commander, but before anything could be done she and her people were captured.

_Oh no!_

The Empire took them all away, and only Zarra came back.

 

* * *

 

“Commander.”

Kartok hums and glances up from his reports, going over again and again how the planet was lost after so much time. “Yes?”

The tech looks oddly stunned, unsure. “The—General Zarra has returned.”

There’s a beat of silence between them before Kartok sets aside his datapad and stands. “Where is she? What happened?”

“The main hangar—she pinged the station and they let her in—” The tech scrambles along in the wake of Kartok’s long strides.

“Get me a line to Leilani.”

“Yes, Commander.” The tech quickly opens a comm to the infirmary, asking for the Commander, and hands it off to Kartok.

“Kartok? What is happening?”

“Zarra is back.”

“What? How? Is she injured?”

“I don’t know, I haven’t seen her yet.” He glances down at the tech, who shakes their head in uncertainty. “I’m on my way to the main hangar. Can you be ready to take her?”

“Of course, I am always ready.” The line cuts out and Kartok hands back the comm without a single pause in his stride. He picks up his pace, practically throwing himself around the corner that will bring him to the hangars.

Worry runs sharp through him, alongside longstanding aches that tug at his mind. He grits his teeth and breathes in sharp through his nose. Not the time. His unrelenting pace brings the hangar doors up fast and he slams through them without hesitation.

Zarra does indeed wait for him on the other side. His stomach drops at the sight of her.

Covered in blood and bruises, she stands with her chin up, and her spine straight. Her eyes are edging on wild. When she spots him they blaze and she opens her mouth to croak, “Commander.”

“Zarra,” Kartok breathes, shaking his head as he moves gingerly toward her. “What happened?”

“I need to speak to you and Commander Leilani alone.” Her voice is painfully rough, cracked at the edges, like it’s been lost too many times to count in too short a span.

“Yes—yes, we’ll get you to the infirmary.”

Zarra nods crisply and she strides forward with barely a glance at the Coalition techs and soldiers that watch her with wide eyes from their stations around the hangar. She walks with a limp, favoring her left side, and Kartok can’t tell if that’s from the cuts on her leg, or from whatever injuries she clearly has sustained to her chest. There doesn’t seem to be an inch of her unmarred.

“Let me—” He reaches for her, only to falter as her eyes cut to him.

“I can walk on my own, Commander.” Zarra holds herself straighter, everything about her drawn taut. She passes by him and this close Kartok can really see what damage was done. Dark stains he thought to be blood crossing her fur are really a gruesome pattern of burns, blackened and cracking, the worst of them curled thick and uneven around her wrists.

For a moment, Kartok struggles to breathe. But Zarra is making her slow and determined way out of the hangar, so he has no choice but to follow. To make sure she gets to Leilani for whatever care they can offer.

She doesn’t speak, and she only slows to a stop when she comes to an intersecting hallway and no longer knows her way. Kartok gently guides her toward the infirmary. She dips her head in thanks and continues on her way.  
  
He thinks they might make the whole walk in silence when Zarra suddenly turns and pins him in place with her gaze.

“Does your offer still stand, Commander Kartok?”

“It never wavered.” Kartok meets the blaze of her eyes head on and something goes loose in his chest as he watches her strength flicker for just a moment. Zarra nods, slow and careful, and then turns away.

In the infirmary Leilani has shooed away the other healers from a small private space, just big enough for the three of them to talk without being overheard or interrupted. Zarra sinks shakily onto the cot but refuses to lie down or be examined.

“Zarra, please,” Leilani begs. “These wounds—”

“They will keep,” Zarra rasps. “I asked Commander Kartok, but I need to know from you as well—does your offer still stand?” Her bright eyes bore into Leilani.

“Of course it does. But after this, if you do not want—”

“I do.” Despite the brokenness of her voice Zarra betrays no uncertainty. “I want to take the command.”

“Then it is yours.” Kartok steps closer, setting himself at Leilani’s side. “Whatever happened… it changes nothing, Zarra.”  
  
“It has changed everything.” Zarra drops her gaze, a sigh shaking her entire frame. She’s so small. Kartok knows this, it’s the first thing he noticed about her, but she’s never seemed to embody it before now. Leilani clasps their hands together. Kartok knows they’re holding themselves back from reaching for Zarra when she clearly does not want to be touched. Silence weighs heavy around them, broken only by another sigh from Zarra. “Alright.” She braces herself, sitting straighter on the cot. “What do we do next?”

 

* * *

 

  _What happened to her?_

 I do not know. She doesn’t speak of it. The only mark she shows of it are the scars on her wrists.

_But… she’s a Commander now._

Yes she is. From General Zarra on her home planet she became Commander Zarra of the Coalition, our third Pillar, and she took over training our soldiers. We started to join fights again, and more often than not we won them. The Coalition changed once more with her, and even though she is no longer new to her command there are still those who are baffled by her.

_What do you mean?_

She is so very different from Commanders Leilani and Kartok. She is a true military leader, she was born to fight. Remind you of anyone?

_Akello!_

Yes, there have been many comparisons made between Zarra and Akello. But again, she is different. Akello was sharp, and she could be cruel if the moment called for it, something I have not seen yet from Commander Zarra to this day. The fight runs through her, but it does not drive her. That is important to remember, little one. Peace is always the Coalition’s goal.

Come on, Min, it is time for bed—

_No, Papa, you forgot one!_

Did I?

_Yes! You forgot **your** commander! The Fourth Pillar!_

Ah, thank you. I could not leave him out.

_Where did he come from? What is he like?_

Well, much like our First Commanders he led his own revolt from prison and freed everyone there. He is brave and brilliant, a skilled fighter, and he does not back down from anything.

_But where’s he from?_

He has never said. I only know that he was taken by the Empire while on a mission from home.

_Is he nice?_

He… it is hard to truly know him. I have only worked with him for a few dozen cycles. But I have fought at his side, followed his orders and been astounded by what I have seen him do. I may not know him well, but I will tell you one thing: I would follow Commander Holt anywhere.

Now come, little one. Time to sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! If you want to know more about this story and our characters, feel free to come and talk to us! 
> 
> You can find us on Tumblr [here](http://www.this-iswhywefight.tumblr.com).


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